Magazine supply for fastener driving tools



Aug. 29, 1967 R. E. POWERS AGAZINE SUPPLY FOR FASTENER DRIVING TOOLSOriginal Filed Nov. 25, 1962 United States Patent 3,338,396 MAGAZINESUPPLY FOligASTENER DRIVING T00 Richard E. Powers, San Marino, Califi,assignor to Powers Wire Products Co., Inc., El Monte, Calif., acorporation of California Continuation of application Ser. No. 239,463,Nov. 23, 1962. This application Dec. 4, 1964, Ser. No. 416,091 4 Claims.(Cl. 206-56) This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 239,463,filed Nov. 23, 1962, and now abandoned.

This invention is concerned with ordinary commercially availablefasteners having an elongate shank and a round head, or any likefastener, and is particularly concerned with a package or supply of suchfasteners adapted for use in mechanical drive tools, whereby a largebunch or supply can be carried by the tool and the fastenersconsecutively engaged and driven thereby.

The fastener under consideration is one that has an enlarged head, themost ordinary fastener of this type being the ordinary nail. Therefore,I will disclose my invention as it relates to said ordinary nail, forexample a common nail, it being understood that other like and/ orequivalent fasteners are to be related and combined in the same way. Atthe outset, there is nothing new in the fastener per se, it being ageneral object of this invention to let the fastener remain absolutelyunaltered and at the same time provide a usable supply thereof formechanical driving tools.

The prior art is redundant with modified fasteners of the type underconsideration and although the various kinds of fasteners haveusefulness, in many cases their use is prohibited by building codeswhich require certain fundamental features in a fastener. For example,nails with basically round heads are provided in stick formation withthe shanks thereof arranged adja-cently and adhered together, but with aportion of each head removed for nesting purposes and in order to permitthe driven nail to pass from the stick. Also, there are T nails thathave rectangular heads that lie side by side. There are others, and ineach case the modifications are a detriment in one way or another,mainly because municipal bodies do not always approve of them or thecost of municipal acceptance is too great. In any case, the mostpractical and universally accepted fastener is the ordinary nail havinga round shank pointed at on end and having an enlarged disc-shaped headin a normal plane at the other end. And

any reduction or removal of metal from the head of a fastener is frownedupon since it reduces the holding power of the article.

It is an object of this invention to provide a supply of elongatefasteners, each of which has an enlarged head, and a supply thereofwhich can be compacted into a minimum of space.

Another object of this invention is to provide a supply of elongatefasteners of the character referred to and in the form of a frangibleflexible belt or strip of material that can be easily compacted, bunchedand gathered and folded and/ or rolled together as circumstances mayrequire and then restraightened when tension is reapplied to its ends.

It is still another object of this invention to provide a supply offasteners of the character referred to, whereby said fasteners arearranged uniformly, all faced in the same direction, and adjacent toeach other in substantially parallel relationship.

Also, it is an object of this invention to provide a carrier that isexpendable as the fasteners are driven therefrom.

Finally, it is an object of this invention to provide a usable supply offasteners, for example ordinary nails,

compacted within a minimum space and whereby critical positioning withinthe supply is eliminated, prior to the driving action afforded by thedrive tool utilized for delivering the fasteners into work.

The various objects and features of this invention will be fullyunderstood from the following detailed description of the typicalpreferred form and application thereof, throughout which descriptionreference is made to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating the arrangement of fastenersas they are supported by the carrier provided by the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of a portion of the carrier when straightenedand of the fasteners supported thereby.

FIG. 3 is a view showing the manner in which the carrier and fastenersare bunched, and the same as they appear bundled in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing the manner in which the fasteners areinserted in and supported by the carrier.

The fastener F with which this invention is concerned is elongated andhas an enlarged head at one end, as for instance an ordinary nail, orthe like. This fastener F has a straight elongate cylindrical shank 10that is of round cross-section and pointed at 11 at its lower terminalend. The head portion 12 is at the upper end of the nail, said headportion being considerably larger in diameter than the shank 10. Thereis no variation in this fastener when compared with an ordinarycommercially available nail, the head being disc-shaped and disposed ina planenormal to the longitudinal axis of the fastener.

It is significant that the prior art has provided sticks of fastenersfor use in magazines of driving tools, for example staple driving tools,tackers, nailers and the like. The said sticks are made up of amultiplicity of adjacently arranged fasteners, one fastener beingarranged parallel to the next adjacent fastener. This usual arrange mentof fasteners in a stick represents the general state of the art whereinthe fasteners are rigidly related in parallelism. It is also significantthat fasteners and the like have been belted and supported thereby inspaced parallel relationship, but this belting of fasteners is notfeasible according to the prior art teachings since too much space isoccupied by too few fasteners. That is, fasteners that are spaced andparallel and with their head diameters touching, have wasted spaceoccurring between their shanks. Furthermore, the space economy factor.is compounded when strips of such fasteners are folded or rolledspirally, by the radial spacing of adjacent convolutions of the stripsas required by the head diameters. I

In accordance with the present invention no attempt is made to preserverigidity in the relationship of the fasteners as they occur in thesupply. In carrying out this invention the fasteners F are permitted tomove out of parallelism with each other, they are permitted to shiftaxially relative to each other, and their heads are permitted tooverlap, whereby the supply of fasteners F can be compacted to a maximumdegree. However, the fasteners F do remain interconnected so as tofollow consecutively one after the other for sequential withdrawal fromsaid supply thereof. Therefore, I provide a carrier C that is flexibleand which can be tensioned in order to align the fasteners F as may berequired.

The carrier C which characterizes the present invention is made up ofany suitable pliant. and supple material material that is expendable ordestructible, for example a frangible material which is easilydestructed, either by fracturing, cutting or tearing. The carrier C isin the form of a belt having opposite sides 20 and 21 and oposite edges22 and 23. The thickness and width of the belt can be varied widelydepending upon the size of fastener to be supplied, and also dependingupon the particular kind of material used in its construction. Also, thebelt material can be doubled, as by folding at either or both marginsthereof. For example, and as shown in the drawings, the carrier C is aflat strip or belt of kraft paper, an unbleached wood pulp paper ofthirty ponud weight and to which the fasteners F are attached, saidfasteners F being attached in spaced parallel relationship with theirheads substantially touching but not necessarily in engagement with eachother.

In practice, the fasteners can be attached to the flexible carrier invarious manners. Preferably, the shank of each fastener simply piercesthe carrier C through one side to have a. portion lying adjacent theside 21 and again pierces through the side 21 to have a pair of spacedportions lying adjacent side 20. A permanent and predeterminedrelationship of the fastener to said carrier can be established eitherby frictional engagement due to the piercing by means of the fastenersper se, or by means of applying an adhesive as at 30'.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that the flexible carrier C is avery practical part forming the expedient by which it is possible tobunch, gather, fold or roll a multiplicity of fasteners F together intoa most compacted supply. In FIG. 1 of the drawings I have shown a rollof fasteners F supported by the carrier C that I provide and whereby amaximum number of fasteners is accommodated in a minimum of space. It isto be understood, however, that rolling is but one of the manyformations which may be used in establishing a compacted supply offasteners, since it is also feasible to fold or gather the supply atrandom so as to form a bunch of fasteners interconnected by the carrier.Notice, particularly, that the heads 12 of the individual fastenersoverlie and underlie each other at random, in which case the flexiblecarrier C bends under compressive forces in order to permit longitudinaldisplacement of one fastener relative to the others. Furthermore, noticethat the shanks 10 of the individual fasteners are not necessarily oralways parallel with each other, in which case the flexible carrier Cbends or folds between adjacent fasteners permitting them to convergeone way or the other. The fasteners F are originally arranged andinstalled parallel with each other when the carrier C is held straight,and the fasteners F are secured to the carrier C by means of friction orby means of an adhesive, all as above described. The initially straightcarrier C with the fasteners F supported thereby is then bunched,gathered, folded or rolled as shown in FIG. 1, whereupon discrepanciesin relative positioning of the fasteners F occur.

One additional feature or improvement, and in addition to the saiddiscrepancies which may occur at the first, is at the now bunched,gathered, folded or rolled supply of fasteners are further condensed bycompacting or constructing them together by manual or other suitablemeans. The manipulation of the carrier C and fasteners F into saidconstructed condition can be accompanied by vibration or by a jostlingaction, whereby all or most all heads 12 overlap or underlap to someextent, and all to the end that the shanks 10 are brought as closetogether as it is possible, considering that all fasteners face or pointin the same direction.

The utility of the instant fasteners and carrier combination lies in thefeasibility of supplying ordinary nails, or the like, from a magazine ofminimum size, and in the capacity of straightening the supply with itscarrier after unbunching, ungathering, unfolding or unrolling of thecompacted and constricted supply as hereinabove described. In actualpractice, the drive tool for delivering the fasteners through the usualguideway and into a working position will have a suitable advancing andrestraightening mechanism that consecutively transports the fasteners Fsupported by the carrier C and into aligned position within the saidguideway of the said driving tool.

Having described only a typical preferred form and application of myinvention, I do not Wish to be limited or restricted to the specificdetails herein set forth, but wish to reserve to myself anymodifications or variations that may appear to those skilled in the artand fall within the scope of the following claims.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. A magazine supply for power nailing tools comprising: a plurality ofnails; a frangible carrier strip for loosely supporting said nails, saidnails being positioned in a parallel, spaced relationship when saidstrip is tensioned in a direction perpendicular to the axes of saidnails; said strip being made of flexible material and crumpledlongitudinally for compact packing of said nails, and said nailsreassuming said parallel, spaced relationship when tension is applied tosaid strip.

2. The magazine supply described in claim 1 wherein said carrier stripis made of flexible kraft paper, and said nails are supported by saidstrip by having the shank of said nails pierce said strip in at leasttwo places.

3. The magazine supply described in claim 1 wherein said nails aresupported by said strip by having the shank of said nails pierce saidstrip in at least two places.

4. A magazine supply for power nailing tools comprising a plurality ofnails each having a head larger than the nail shank, an elongatedfrangible carrier strip for loosely supporting said nails whereby saidnails may be broken free of said carrier strip by a power nailing tool,said nails being positioned in a parallel spaced relation with the headof each nail closely adjacent the head of the next nail and each headadjacent the same edge of said strip when said strip is tensioned alongits longitudinal axis, said strip being made of material flexible in alldirections perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of said strip andcrumpled longitudinally for compact packing of said nails withsaid-heads overlap-ping, said nails reassuming said parallel spacedrelationship when tension along said longitudinal axis is again appliedto said strip.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS THERON E. CONDON, PrimaryExaminer.

J, M. CASKIE, Assistant Examiner.

1. A MAGAZINE SUPPLY FOR POWER NAILING TOOLS COMPRISING: A PLURALITY OFNAILS; A FRANGIBLE CARRIER STRIP FOR LOOSELY SUPPORTING SAID NAILS, SAIDNAILS BEING POSITIONED IN A PARALLEL, SPACED RELATIONSHIP WHEN SAIDSTRIP IS TENSIONED IN A DIRECTION PERPENDICULAR TO THE AXES OF SAIDNAILS; SAID STRIP BEING MADE OF FLEXIBLE MATERIAL AND CRUMPLEDLONGITUDINALLY FOR COMPACT PACKING OF SAID NAILS, AND SAID NAILSREASSUMING SAID PARALLEL, SPACED RELATIONSHIP WHEN TENSION IS APPLIED TOSAID STRIP.